A few days ago I posted: "If all mills like MF were permanently shut
down, how would the average person be able to own ferrets? All of the
shelter ferrets would eventually die, and from what I've been told,
only 1% of ferrets are privately bred, so there wouldn't be enough
supply to meet the demand.

If we want to be able to own ferrets in the future, then ferret mills
are a necessary evil."

Well, I've been doing a lot of soul searching and have come to some
new conclusions. My revised feelings on ferret mills are as follows.

Do I think that they should be shut down? Absolutely not. I think that
as far as mill ferrets go that Marshalls are probably the best in as
far as they're taken care of, since they've been breeding since 1939.

I can completely understand why even if a person does do all of the
necessary research as I did, why they may still purchase a kit, versus
adopting an adult ferret from a shelter. The reason is a simple one.
They may not want to deal with the medical issues that ferrets have any
sooner than they have to. I know I didn't. My first ferret Zen came
from a filthy local pet store. His owner's chose to sell him instead of
locating a shelter when they decided to be rid of him. When I finally
was given the okay to adopt him by both of my parents I was told by the
manager that Zen was only a year old. Well it turns out that he was
really around four.

Zen was diagnosed with insulinoma six months after I brought him home
and later developed lymphoma. He died six months after his first
diagnosis.

If I had known that Zen was going to die fifty-four weeks and four days
from the day I brought him home would I have still chosen him even with
all of his medical issues? In a word, yes. And I would do it all again.

Zen meant everything to me. He was the cuddlyist and most gentle ferret
that I have ever known. Zen helped me through the trauma of my dad's
second heart attack, and with so much more. I'm still grieving Zen's
loss even though it's been a little more than a year since he died.
Zen is still my heart fuzzy even though he's in Heaven.

In this life, the closest way I will ever get to holding my Zen again
is by cradling other Marshall ferrets. The nearest ferret shelter is
the Oregon Ferret Shelter in Oregon City, Oregon. Unfortunately I live
too far away to volunteer easily. If I lived closer I'd volunteer in
a heartbeat. So the only way for me to be in contact with Marshall
ferrets is by handling the babies at my local PETCO for as long as
they'll let me. Do I think that Marshall Farms should decrease the
number of kits that they sell to pet stores? Yes, I do. There are tons
of ferrets in shelters today. I would have to say that the majority of
them will probably never find homes, though I could be wrong.

I hate going into PETCO knowing that they've recently gotten in a new
shipment of eight-week-olds, when there are several older kits still
there needing homes.

I was thinking that it would be a good idea for the pet stores to raise
their prices on ferrets somewhat to keep people from buying them on a
whim. But if they did that, then what would happen to the fuzzies who
would languish in the pet stores because the prices were raised?

Randie

[Posted in FML 6812]